The present disclosure relates to a collision detection method for a drive unit comprising an electric drive motor and a movable component which is driven thereby.
Drive systems of this type are widespread, in particular, in automation technology and are used in a variety of ways, for example in robots, processing machinery or transportation machinery etc. When they are used in these fields it is possible for collisions to occur between the movable component and fixed or movable obstacles, for example goods for transportation or processing, walls, housings, other machine components or even persons etc., are not excluded. In order to avoid injury to persons and damage to machines it is necessary to detect collision in order, for example, to initiate suitable reactions.
DE 102 45 594 A1 discloses a collision detection method in which drive-side and output-side variables are sensed and compared in order to detect a collision. However, such a solution requires a complex sensor system at least on the output side.
It is desirable to specify possible ways of detecting a collision which are easy to implement but nevertheless operate safely and reliably.